


helpless

by ameliafuckingshepherd



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Crushes, F/M, Fluff, Happy Aaron Hotchner, High School, I promise it’s not mentioned in the fic though, Inspired by Hamilton, Love at First Sight, One Shot, Pining Aaron Hotchner, Prom, School Dances, Teen Romance, because I’m garbage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-09
Updated: 2019-11-09
Packaged: 2021-01-25 22:55:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21364006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ameliafuckingshepherd/pseuds/ameliafuckingshepherd
Summary: from the first time they see each other, he's helpless. she's no better.or: Emily doesn't believe in love at first sight until she meets Aaron. Aaron doesn't believe in love at all.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner/Emily Prentiss
Kudos: 39





	helpless

**Author's Note:**

> ohmygodohmygodohmygod i am in LOVE. i'm in love. it's BAD.  
there's this fourth year at my school and he doesn't even know my name. i swear to god he doesn't know I exist but i needed somewhere to vent my feelings because my friends are done hearing about him. so i bring you this fic. an outlet for my undoubtedly unrequited crush.  
and is this obviously based off hamilton? yes and i dont care. we die like men

the minute Emily catches his gaze from across the room, she can't look away. He's tall and pale, and his eyes seem haunted in a way she can't quite describe. after half a second, he blinks and turns back to his friends, and she turns back to hers.

she asks JJ, "who was that?"

"I don't know," she replies.

"he's cute."

JJ doesn't say anything but purses her lips and looks at the boy. Garcia cranes her neck to see him over the crowd at the party. 

"he kind of looks like a crow," Reid comments. 

Emily smacks his arm, and Morgan tells him to shut up. Emily flushes. it’s true, but not in a bad way.

she sees him again on the bus home. she's alone in the back. her friends live in the other direction, and while she knows the other passengers, she isn’t close enough with any of them to share a seat. he gets on the bus and shows the driver his pass. again, she catches his eyes, and again, she can't look away. he stands in the aisle, steadying himself on a pole. 

she's got half a mind to sit in the front, just so he’ll notice her. 

Kate Callahan says his name is Aaron Hotchner. The conversation goes a little like this:

Emily points at him during lunch. "Hey, Kate, what year is he in?"

Kate frowns. "Aaron Hotchner? that hardass? he's a senior."

Emily doesn't know how she hadn't noticed him before. he really is beautiful, in a dark, vampiric, sort of way. They’re only three years apart. It really isn’t that much.

_Aaron Hotchner._ the name fits him perfectly. 

Emily finds herself giddy for the moment their paths cross between third and fourth period. she figures he's leaving AP English while she's going to biology. she hates how much he consumes her thoughts. 

she walks with Morgan and Reid to class, and maybe she lets her shoulder bump Aaron Hotchner's while she passes him, just to hear him apologize, and just to be able to say, "oh no, that's on me. what's your name?"

while the rest of the students at Jefferson High flow around them, Emily smiles and shakes his hand. it's an oddly formal gesture, but something about his serious demeanor makes it feel right.

"I'm Aaron."

"I'm Emily." she would have carried on the conversation as long as she could have, but Aaron’s friend calls to him from down the hall. 

"coming, Dave. it was nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you, too," she says, but it sounds squeaky and nervous. which she supposes it was.

she sees him the next day in the parking lot. as he climbs in the driver's side of a black SUV, he offers a smile so small she wonders if she's making it up. she smiles back nonetheless, and her heart beats a little faster. 

she turns to her friends and says, "I'm in love."

"who are you going to the dance with?" 

Emily rolls her eyes and glares at her mother over the dinner table. "I don't know yet."

"it's in two weeks. you need to ask someone.” 

Emily stares down at her plate. Her mother’s questions are never just questions. They’re her way of telling Emily what to do without directly commanding. 

Dinner ends, and the night passes with her mother retreating to her offices while Emily watches America’s Most Wanted. Criminals dance across the screen, and Emily finds herself longing for a world where no tries to control her.

Aaron doesn’t want to notice the confident, gorgeous, second year. He’s not looking to date anyone. When he sees her at Strauss’ party, he tries to ignore her.

But then she bumps into him in the hall and introduces herself, and once he has a name to match her face, she doesn’t escape his thoughts. 

He makes sure to smile at her (as much as he can) when he sees her. He doesn’t miss the pink that rushes to her cheeks and the way she bites her lip, a nervous gesture. 

He can’t seem to forget it, either. 

Dave, of course, has dozens of girls fawning over him. He’s always in the spotlight. Aaron doesn’t mind. You can learn more about people from the sidelines, anyway. 

It’s Thursday when he sees her again. Krystall and Dave drive off in his old mustang, and Aaron is about to get in his own car when he spots Emily. 

It’s misting slightly, and bitterly cold. She sits on the curb, wrapped in a jacket that doesn’t seem to be doing its job. He frowns, and for a moment considers his options.

When he walks toward her, she looks up. 

“Emily,” he greets. 

Her smile is blinding, and it takes his breath away. “Hi, Aaron.”

“Is there a reason you’re out in the cold, or do you just like staring at concrete?”

She laughs, and his heart practically stops. The sound is joyous. Light. Everything he is not. “It’s nothing. I missed my bus.”

“Need a ride?”

What is he doing?! 

She looks at him. He can practically see the gears in her head turning.

“That would be great.”

He ends up taking her home again next week. She apologizes like it’s the end of the world, and he assures her it’s no problem. When she offers to buy him coffee to make up for it, he agrees without thinking. How could he say no? 

Which brings them here, now. 

They both order dark roast. Emily pays with a black credit card before tucking it back in her wallet. He leads her to a couch in the back of the room. She smells like Chanel perfume, the kind his nanny used to wear. It calms his nerves and makes him feel at home.

Emily rambles on about her family. Aaron is happy to listen. He doesn’t have much to say. The barista calls her name (Emily Prentiss, he hasn’t heard her full name before and fuck, it’s beautiful), so he goes to get their drinks from the counter. 

She looks up at him and smiles with cranberry red lips. 

Their conversation ebbs and flows, but it all feels perfectly natural. She understands him in a way no one else does. Not save, not his brother; when he looks into her eyes, the sky’s the limit. They stay until the cafe closes. he drives her home and walks her to her doorstep. 

They exchange phone numbers. She wishes him goodnight.

He’s walking on air. 

Sean pesters him about his elevated mood. Aaron pretends not to know what he’s talking about but confesses to Dave the next morning. Give it a day, he would have figure it out anyways.

He sees her in the hall after AP English. She flashes him an enchanting smile and flips her hair over her shoulder. He’s hit by a wave of rose and ylang-ylang that almost knocks him off his feet. By the time he pulls himself together enough to wave, she’s gone. 

“Wow. That was bad,” Dave says, stating the obvious. 

Aaron shakes his head and keeps walking. 

After school, he hears her talking on the phone. he thinks maybe he ought to leave. But he doesn’t. 

“I don’t know. Yes, I know it’s a week away, mother.” She pauses for a long time. Aaron pretends to get something from the vending machine. “I’m not just a photo op. I’m your daughter. And if I don’t have a date to winter formal, it’s not your problem.” 

She groans loudly, and out of the corner of his eyes, he sees her rest her head against the wall.

And he doesn’t know what makes him say what he says next. 

“Go to the dance with me.”

“What?”

“It sounds like you need to get your mom off your back, and it looks like I’ll be third wheeling with Dave and Krystall. I’ll never hear the end of it from my brother if I go alone.”

She looks surprised and a little taken aback. He’s about to retract his offer when she agrees, and like it always does, her smile nearly knocks him off his feet.

He asks her what he should wear. She says she doesn’t care as long as it looks good with her dress (red, silk, with lace trim that brushes the floor). He wears a black tux with a red tie to match, and brings her a bouquet of roses. Her mother opens the door. 

Emily quickly gets her out of the way. Diamonds glitter around her neck and on her ears. He feels a spark of jealousy. He’s not poor, but certainly not rich. Her mother is introduced as Ambassador Prentiss. it suddenly all makes sense. Emily shoots him a look that says, _get me out of here_.

He does.

They dance all night, and a sleek black Audi takes them home. Emily’s hand rests on his knee. It drives him crazy. Her nail polish is pristine, and the exact color of her dress. She must have had them done earlier today. She looks good in red. Well, she looks good in everything, but red beings out the blush in her cheeks, makes her black lined eyes look brighter.

She rises up on the balls of her toes to kiss him goodnight. She tastes like coffee and vanilla, like the most perfect Christmas cookie you’ve ever had. 

Long after he goes home, the feel of her lips lingers on his.

At two in the morning, she texts him, _is it weird that I miss you?_

At two thirty, he replies, _not at all._

**Author's Note:**

> but seriously, guys. i've met him twice, both times i was wearing a prisoner costume, high out of my mind, and handcuffed to my best friend.  
i haven't felt romantic feelings for so long. it's fuckin butterflies in my stomach and everything. it's very strange and foreign to me, but I love it. I also really hate how my emotions come in super intense bursts that don't last long, but i'll talk about that in an avengers fic soon. thanks for reading, love u, etc etc
> 
> Edit: hahah we dated for a month and I had an episode and he dumped me (:
> 
> Edit 2: love isn’t real do not waste your time on men they all suck


End file.
